Balcombe Tennis

A volley hit with backspin

The process by which matches are arranged and scheduled for a tournament. Generally, seeded players are given byes or scheduled before the draw, and names of the other entrants are then randomly selected to determine match-ups and order of play. The word is also used to mean the schedule itself, after the draw has been completed. See also seed.

A soft shot that drops just over the net; usually hit with backspin to minimize its bounce. It's most commonly used against an opponent who is playing deep, as contrasted with the chip shot.

A drop shot that's hit before the ball has bounced

A shot that fails to cross the net or lands out of the court, resulting in loss of the point. See forced error, unforced error.

The flat area of the racket formed by the strings and bounded by the frame.

An invalid service attempt. It is a fault if the serve fails to land in the receiver's service court; if the server swings and misses the ball entirely; or if the serve is made from beyond the baseline or from the wrong side of the center mark. See also double fault; foot fault; serve.

The first point of a game for either player or side

The flight of the ball after it leaves the racket and before it bounces.

Descriptive of a low, fast, straight shot without spin.

The motion of the arm and racket after the ball has been struck.

Usually a fault caused by the server's foot entering the court before the racket contacts the ball. It is also a foot fault if any part of the server's foot is on the wrong side of the center mark, or the server is walking or running while delivering the serve. See also serve.

An official responsible for calling foot faults. The foot fault judge is positioned on a line with the baseline, on the opposite side of the court from the baseline judge.

An error resulting from a good shot by the opponent. See error, unforced error.

A shot that puts the opponent on the defensive; often an approach shot.